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Thank you both that sounds worth getting at heavy discount
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Sep 22, 2023 02:15
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The Recluce books tend to the formulaic but it's quite a satisfying formula.
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Sep 22, 2023 04:17
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Fart of Presto posted:The Artificial Kid by Bruce Sterling - $1.99 I’ll have to look it up. I remember enjoying it back in 1991ish but that’s hardly a recommendation for 2023. Fart of Presto posted:Edit: And there's a bundle of 36 books by L.E. Modesitt, Jr on Humble Bundle Much like the commentary about Modesitt’s books, the books are all basically the same. He’s almost the Dick Francis of fantasy.
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Sep 22, 2023 04:42
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Lead out in cuffs posted:c) While ostensibly fairly progressive politically, he is from another era, and this does reflect in his work. e.g. I can't recall a single LGBTQ character, there is little to no racial diversity, and, while there is often an equally-competent wife, the main character is always male. He's gotten slightly better with some of the newer books. I'm a big fan but as others have said it's pretty much the same book over and over but it's non-offensive reading.
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Sep 22, 2023 04:51
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I've only ever read The Spellsong Cycle and a bunch of Recluce and Spellsong was imo better in every way. Modesitt Jr has a very strong prose style where the characters all sound the same and is in denial about the extensive similarities in the vibes of his books and characters. FWIW Recluce is fun because most of the books are standalone and bounce all over the chronology and you sometimes get to see the same conflict from two sides as separate standalones. I would stop reading any time you've had enough. I followed publication order and dropped it somewhere around Cyador's Heirs. Spellsong can be read as a trilogy + sequel duology and the trilogy is an isekai with an opera singer protagonist. The duology is set like 20 years later after her death and is about her heir dealing with the transition in power.
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Sep 22, 2023 12:53
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ulmont posted:I’ll have to look it up. I remember enjoying it back in 1991ish but that’s hardly a recommendation for 2023.
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Sep 22, 2023 12:59
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 Michael Whelan is unfairly good at fantasy book cover art
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Sep 22, 2023 13:45
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StrixNebulosa posted:
FACT
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Sep 22, 2023 14:34
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Rarely do you see the " I could take you with both hands tied behind my back" threat brought up in a book cover.
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Sep 22, 2023 14:50
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"y'know I was thinking this day wasn't going well when my hands got tied behind my back and all my clothes got ripped off but then this hot chick on a horse showed up and drat if things aren't looking up"
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Sep 22, 2023 15:14
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I'm sure that book is terrible, but I want to know more about that sword.
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Sep 22, 2023 15:22
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StrixNebulosa posted:
You can’t see it but you can really feel the guy sticking out his tongue
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Sep 22, 2023 15:24
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GrandpaPants posted:I'm sure that book is terrible, but I want to know more about that sword. This is cover art to CJ Cherryh's Morgaine series so don't worry it's actually awesome!!!!
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Sep 22, 2023 15:36
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I started "Shards of Honor", and was enjoying it, but the rape + torture bit is making me want to stop. How much more rape/torture am I in for? Specifically talking about when Cordelia gets captured by Vorrutyer.
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Sep 22, 2023 16:57
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there's a bit more sexual assault in the next Cordelia book. The Miles books don't have much of any sexual assault but do reference it there is also some torture scattered throughout. And one specific book you may want to skip if torture is a big problem for you.
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Sep 22, 2023 18:25
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DACK FAYDEN posted:I grabbed it because Schismatrix was still really good as of a year ago. That's not an endorsement for this one because I haven't read it yet! I think you'll like it if you liked Schismatrix. It's similarly wild in a lot of ways. It also gave me the sense he was trying to riff on Dhalgren some, but without the overtly gross stuff.
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Sep 22, 2023 18:31
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Patrick Spens posted:there's a bit more sexual assault in the next Cordelia book. The Miles books don't have much of any sexual assault but do reference it there is also some torture scattered throughout. And one specific book you may want to skip if torture is a big problem for you. Mirror Dance, I assume. Those scenes are not typical of Bujold, and if you were enjoying the book up till now, I'd say it's worth pressing on. Selachian fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Sep 22, 2023 |
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Sep 22, 2023 18:53
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StrixNebulosa posted:
Whenever I see Michael Whelan's rad fantasy book cover art I get all mad about the current fantasy cover design trend of mundane and decidedly un-fantastical typographic covers with maybe a colorized stock photo collage. Just look at the soulless new covers for the WoT paperbacks. Last time I at the bookstore I walked past the fantasy aisle twice because from a distance it all looked effectively the same as general fiction. I miss seeing all and castles and dragons and cool armor and magic swords and poo poo. It used to be so fun and colorful and compelling. 
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Sep 22, 2023 20:09
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Queen Victorian posted:Whenever I see Michael Whelan's rad fantasy book cover art I get all mad about the current fantasy cover design trend of mundane and decidedly un-fantastical typographic covers with maybe a colorized stock photo collage. Just look at the soulless new covers for the WoT paperbacks. Last time I at the bookstore I walked past the fantasy aisle twice because from a distance it all looked effectively the same as general fiction. I feel the same way. In some ways it's even worse as a romance fan - it used to be gorgeous paintings of the main couple, there was a plague of Fabios, but it was all fun to look at, and now it's either two stock image people with photoshop filters, or stock clip art with filters over it.
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Sep 22, 2023 20:23
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Selachian posted:Mirror Dance, I assume. The spoiled book is really rough on the protagonist psychologically, including literal torture. Not gonna downplay, they're still in therapy years later. I'd recommend trying, it's a phenomenal novel, just not an easy read.
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Sep 22, 2023 20:33
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Queen Victorian posted:Whenever I see Michael Whelan's rad fantasy book cover art I get all mad about the current fantasy cover design trend of mundane and decidedly un-fantastical typographic covers with maybe a colorized stock photo collage. Just look at the soulless new covers for the WoT paperbacks. Last time I at the bookstore I walked past the fantasy aisle twice because from a distance it all looked effectively the same as general fiction. I loved the cover of Black Stone Heart for this reason, it's only a couple years old, it depicts a scene from the book instead of just being stock photos: 
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Sep 22, 2023 20:33
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StrixNebulosa posted:This is cover art to CJ Cherryh's Morgaine series so don't worry it's actually awesome!!!! Yeah morgaine is fantastic, but it's a gritty emotionally intense exploration of honour and loyalty in a fundamentally compromised world, which, uh
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Sep 22, 2023 20:54
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you folks just wait until book covers are all AI art. you're going to miss those stock photos!!!
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Sep 22, 2023 21:00
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The Testaments (Handmaid's Tale #2) by Margaret Atwood - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KVLPYDQ/ The Penultimate Truth by Philip K Dick - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MZN172/
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Sep 22, 2023 22:24
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Brendan Rodgers posted:I loved the cover of Black Stone Heart for this reason, it's only a couple years old, it depicts a scene from the book instead of just being stock photos: It still pisses me off that you cannot buy this as a poster. It's one of the best covers I've ever seen. Same with gb's flaming mask cover to baru.
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Sep 22, 2023 23:09
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Queen Victorian posted:Whenever I see Michael Whelan's rad fantasy book cover art I get all mad about the current fantasy cover design trend Yeah. I have all of the books Whelan published back in the day and he is the reason, entirely, why I pursued a career in art. (Ok, I got derailed into animation blah blah blah but still..) The dude was an artist. He had a whole process that basically no one is ALLOWED to have anymore. Read book. Tons of thumbnails/sketches. Back and forth with publisher and author. More sketches. Color designs. Then, at long last, he paints the goddamn cover. Fucker had brushes he customized for his process. Like, brushes with one or two bristles that he'd use to cross hatch shade the fine details. Then, like Waterson, he retired at the night of his success and has been living his best life ever since. I will forever be in awe of his process and his results.
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Sep 23, 2023 06:31
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Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016CQUL4U/
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Sep 23, 2023 17:13
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So I'm assuming other people in here have heard Harlan Ellison read his, "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream"? I was driving between Buffalo, WY and Casper, WY (aka the middle of nowhere) and decided to listen to his reading; I have read the book before. Probably the most unhinged poo poo I've ever heard, but it brought that story to life so much, just how deeply psychotic it would be in that situation. I also listened to "All Tomorrows" for the first time on that trip and that was good as well in an existential dread kind of way. I liked the insane time scales of the story. Looking for any recommendations for similar books. Another good rogue AI story may work, but as far as "All Tomorrows", I'm not necessarily interested in going down further rabbit holes about human modifications, but something in that vein if that makes sense? I've also been wondering if "Ancillary Sword" would be any good? I enjoyed Ancillary Justice for the most part. I guess I'm just mainly looking for some good AI poo poo
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Sep 24, 2023 03:43
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CaptainCrunch posted:Whelan
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Sep 24, 2023 04:27
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Speaking of, I'm extremely excited for the new Waterson
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Sep 24, 2023 05:31
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MarksMan posted:So I'm assuming other people in here have heard Harlan Ellison read his, "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream"? I was driving between Buffalo, WY and Casper, WY (aka the middle of nowhere) and decided to listen to his reading; I have read the book before. Probably the most unhinged poo poo I've ever heard, but it brought that story to life so much, just how deeply psychotic it would be in that situation. I listened to the BBC radio play. I believe he plays the computer in that one. I also think he did voice acting for the video game. Both are good! thotsky fucked around with this message at 09:05 on Sep 24, 2023 |
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Sep 24, 2023 08:28
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MarksMan posted:
The Darfsteller by Walter M. Miller Diaspora by Greg Egan
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Sep 24, 2023 11:02
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thotsky posted:I listened to the BBC radio play. I believe he plays the computer in that one. I also think he did voice acting for the video game. Both are good! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgo-As552hY poo poo's great in a psychotic way if you have 40 minutes to kill one day
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Sep 24, 2023 13:56
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Anias posted:I assume you've read Banks (the culture) and Clarke (Rama). If not, there you go. You might not have read Octavia Butler (Dawn, but many of her other works are worth reading as well.) Perhaps you might enjoy Julie E Czerneda's Trade Pact (A Thousand Words For Stranger is the start point). Thanks for the recommendations (from almost 2 years ago lol.) I'm about halfway through Dawn and still need to finish it, but generally have enjoyed it thus far. For whatever reason, I feel like it's one of those books that I need to be in the right setting to listen to and absorb. I enjoyed Rama and have thought of continuing with the series. The Culture I've had the desire to start numerous times, but I read the Amazon reviews and they seem ambiguous, although at the same time I know there are poo poo reviews of some books I think are excellent. fez_machine posted:The Darfsteller by Walter M. Miller The settings/premise of Diaspora (from Wikipedia) sounds interesting. May add this to the list. MarksMan fucked around with this message at 14:56 on Sep 24, 2023 |
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Sep 24, 2023 14:06
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MarksMan posted:
Culture is as well written as galaxy-spanning space opera gets, and you can take that to the bank(s) 
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Sep 24, 2023 14:28
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buffalo all day posted:Culture is as well written as galaxy-spanning space opera gets, and you can take that to the bank(s) Would you recommend starting with the first book, or would there be any value-add/reason to start elsewhere in the series? Someone on Amazon mentioned it may be better to start with the second book "Player of Games"
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Sep 24, 2023 14:59
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:It still pisses me off that you cannot buy this as a poster. It's one of the best covers I've ever seen. Same with gb's flaming mask cover to baru. I'll ask him if that kinda merchandise will be a thing. Have you read his new book in the Manifest Delusions series, A War To End All? Just finished the review ebook he sent me, great book.
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Sep 24, 2023 15:18
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MarksMan posted:Would you recommend starting with the first book, or would there be any value-add/reason to start elsewhere in the series? Someone on Amazon mentioned it may be better to start with the second book "Player of Games" I think that’s probably right. Start with Player of Games then Use of Weapons then Excession probably.
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Sep 24, 2023 15:34
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:It still pisses me off that you cannot buy this as a poster. It's one of the best covers I've ever seen. He said: "You know, I keep thinking about setting up a store with stuff like. I should probably get off my butt and do it."
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Sep 24, 2023 15:44
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MarksMan posted:Would you recommend starting with the first book, or would there be any value-add/reason to start elsewhere in the series? Someone on Amazon mentioned it may be better to start with the second book "Player of Games" The first book isn’t bad, but it’s very different to the rest of the series ala Discworld. Come back to it later.
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Sep 24, 2023 15:48
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